Computer networks commonly include two or more computer devices that are mechanically connected by some physical medium. For example, the physical medium can be a hub, a connection wire, or intervening computer device that couples printers, personal computers, servers, and network appliances. One widely used type of network, known as a local area network (“LAN”), often utilizes such physical media for connecting computer devices that are in a relatively close geographical proximity.
Due to the increased development and use of mobile computer devices, a need has developed to easily and rapidly couple computer devices with a network. The art has responded to this need by providing wireless networks that permit wireless access to a network by computer devices. A properly enabled computer device thus can communicate with such a network without a physical connection to that network. To that end, many computer devices have been designed to include a radio wave transceiver (also called an “RF transceiver”) that is configured to interface with other similarly configured radio wave transceivers on other computer devices. Accordingly, such computer devices can communicate with other similarly enabled devices to join and/or form a network.
Use of RF transceivers for communicating with another computer device, however, presents a number of problems. Specifically, the known radio frequency (“RF”) spectrum has a limited bandwidth, consequently limiting the total number of network devices that can be in a single network, and/or reducing the speed and quality of network transmissions. In addition, RF transmissions can be received by unintended computer devices, thus compromising the confidentiality and security of network transmissions. To compensate for such security problems, RF network transmissions have been encrypted by known encryption protocols. Of course, since encrypted RF transmissions necessarily require more bandwidth than those that are not encrypted, such solution undesirably further exacerbate the limited bandwidth problems of such networks.